PHP Introduction

What is php? PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language PHP scripts are executed on the server PHP is free to download and use

What is a PHP File? PHP files can contain text, HTML, JavaScript code, and PHP code PHP code are executed on the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML PHP files have a default file extension of ".php"

What Can PHP Do? PHP can generate dynamic page content PHP can create, open, read, write, and close files on the server PHP can collect form data PHP can send and receive cookies PHP can add, delete, modify data in your database PHP can restrict users to access some pages on your website PHP can encrypt data With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. You can output images, PDF files, and even Flash movies. You can also output any text, such as XHTML and XML.

Why PHP? PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.) PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.) PHP has support for a wide range of databases PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

PHP Installation What Do I Need? Set Up PHP on Your Own PC To start using PHP, you can: Find a web host with PHP and MySQL support Install a web server on your own PC, and then install PHP and MySQL Set Up PHP on Your Own PC However, if your server does not support PHP, you must: install a web server install PHP install a database, such as MySQL The official PHP website (PHP.net) has installation instructions for PHP: http://php.net/manual/en/install.php

Basic PHP Syntax A PHP script can be placed anywhere in the document. A PHP script starts with <?php and ends with ?>: <?php // PHP code goes here ?> The default file extension for PHP files is ".php". A PHP file normally contains HTML tags, and some PHP scripting code.

Basic PHP Syntax  Each code line in PHP must end with a semicolon. The semicolon is a separator and is used to distinguish one set of instructions from another. With PHP, there are two basic statements to output text in the browser: echo and print.

Comments in PHP <?php //This is a PHP comment line /* This is a PHP comment block */ ?>

PHP Variables As with algebra, PHP variables can be used to hold values (x=5) or expressions (z=x+y). Variable can have short names (like x and y) or more descriptive names (age, carname, totalvolume). Rules for PHP variables: A variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable A variable name must begin with a letter or the underscore character A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores (A-z, 0-9, and _ ) A variable name should not contain spaces Variable names are case sensitive ($y and $Y are two different variables)

Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables PHP has no command for declaring a variable. A variable is created the moment you first assign a value to it: $txt="Hello world!"; $x=5; After the execution of the statements above, the variable txt will hold the value Hello world!, and the variable xwill hold the value 5. Note: When you assign a text value to a variable, put quotes around the value.

PHP is a Loosely Typed Language In the example above, notice that we did not have to tell PHP which data type the variable is. PHP automatically converts the variable to the correct data type, depending on its value. In a strongly typed programming language, we will have to declare (define) the type and name of the variable before using it.

PHP Variable Scopes The scope of a variable is the part of the script where the variable can be referenced/used. PHP has four different variable scopes: local global static parameter

String Variables in PHP String variables are used for values that contain characters. After we have created a string variable we can manipulate it. A string can be used directly in a function or it can be stored in a variable. There is only one string operator in PHP. The concatenation operator (.)  is used to join two string values together.

PHP Operators Operator Name Description Example Result x + y Addition Sum of x and y 2 + 2 4 x - y Subtraction Difference of x and y 5 - 2 3 x * y Multiplication Product of x and y 5 * 2 10 x / y Division Quotient of x and y 15 / 5 x % y Modulus Remainder of x divided by y 5 % 2 10 % 8 10 % 2 1 2 0 - x Negation Opposite of x - 2   a . b Concatenation Concatenate two strings "Hi" . "Ha" HiHa

PHP Operators Assignment Same as... Description x = y The left operand gets set to the value of the expression on the right x += y x = x + y Addition x -= y x = x - y Subtraction x *= y x = x * y Multiplication x /= y x = x / y Division x %= y x = x % y Modulus a .= b a = a . b Concatenate two strings

PHP Operators Operator Name Description ++ x Pre-increment Increments x by one, then returns x x ++ Post-increment Returns x, then increments x by one -- x Pre-decrement Decrements x by one, then returns x x -- Post-decrement Returns x, then decrements x by one

PHP Operators Operator Name Description Example x and y And True if both x and y are true x=6 y=3  (x < 10 and y > 1) returns true x or y Or True if either or both x and y are true x=6 y=3  (x==6 or y==5) returns true x xor y Xor True if either x or y is true, but not both x=6 y=3  (x==6 xor y==3) returns false x && y x=6 y=3 (x < 10 && y > 1) returns true x || y x=6 y=3 (x==5 || y==5) returns false ! x Not True if x is not true x=6 y=3 !(x==y) returns true